running with no oil

Hey guys I got a question that needs to be answer. I know most of you guys are pros when it comes to Eclipses. Well to make things short. I'm a manager at a quick lube shop. One of my tech did an oil change on a 95 Mitsubishi Eclipse turbo, the customer then claims that we didnt add oil to his car and the engine is ruin four days later with 110 miles since the service. My question is how far can these cars run with no oil?
Thanks

umm... i'm no pro at this but i know that my brothers truck made it about 15 miles without oil before it froze up....but 110 miles without oil is well unheard of in my opinion and experience with that truck, i could be wrong so JoeWagon, LandoAWD, kevin or jake correct me if i'm wrong.

A mitsu turbo motor will crankwalk if it is IDLED with no oil. It just tool 100 miles for the crank to move far enough to kill the crank sensor. The motor was destroyed before it left your shop.

110 seems like far to go before it all seizes up though. So consider this. It is fairly common for shops to loosen the bolt that holds the oil cooler on when removeing the filter. This bolt is also the stud that the filter screws on to. I lost my second motor this way. It took about that much mileage too. The gasket behind the cooler will blow out and you will drain the oil pan in just a few seconds. You wont even notice it. I just happened to be looking in the rearview to change lanes so I caught it quick (smoking off the exhaust), before all the oil was gone. The motor still failed in a matter of weeks.

In either case it up to the shop that changes the oil to make sure the filter stud/bolt is still tight. Overtightening it will crush the cooler and mix oil and coolant. Also very bad. I strongly suggest to every shop out there get a manual and get the toqrue spec on that bolt, and tighten it EVERY time you remove the filter from a turbo eclipse, talon, or laser. It would save a lot of motors and a lot of lawsuits. Crappy design or not, its the shops responsibility to understand the part they are working on...

Naturally I dont know exactly what happened, but this is a common occurance. Hope the info helps at least.

The dealership was stiffed me on the oil... I was drivin for about a week and a half.. Then my car started to stutter real bad when i stepped on it in 3rd gear... Not sure if thats what caused it.. But i checked my oil.. and it had like 1 quart of oil in it.. When i added 3 more quarts, the problem went away...The service manager got hella bitched out that day..

A mitsu turbo motor will crankwalk if it is IDLED with no oil. It just tool 100 miles for the crank to move far enough to kill the crank sensor. The motor was destroyed before it left your shop.

110 seems like far to go before it all seizes up though. So consider this. It is fairly common for shops to loosen the bolt that holds the oil cooler on when removeing the filter. This bolt is also the stud that the filter screws on to. I lost my second motor this way. It took about that much mileage too. The gasket behind the cooler will blow out and you will drain the oil pan in just a few seconds. You wont even notice it. I just happened to be looking in the rearview to change lanes so I caught it quick (smoking off the exhaust), before all the oil was gone. The motor still failed in a matter of weeks.

In either case it up to the shop that changes the oil to make sure the filter stud/bolt is still tight. Overtightening it will crush the cooler and mix oil and coolant. Also very bad. I strongly suggest to every shop out there get a manual and get the toqrue spec on that bolt, and tighten it EVERY time you remove the filter from a turbo eclipse, talon, or laser. It would save a lot of motors and a lot of lawsuits. Crappy design or not, its the shops responsibility to understand the part they are working on...

Naturally I dont know exactly what happened, but this is a common occurance. Hope the info helps at least.



Thanks guys for your input on this situation. The car had no oil leak what so ever. My insurance look at the car. The guy who owns the car is taking me to small claims court, he said he was able to drive over 100 miles with no oil before his engine gave up. I'll just see what the judge has to say about this.

Keep in mind that my point is there will be no leak when the car leaves your shop. But the gasket behind the oil cooler will blow out under pressure and after a little vibration. Then there is a very large leak :) Chances are the owner isnt knowledgable enough to know about this situation, and 995 of the time eats the cost on something that wasnt thier fault. Again, I cant say what exactly happened in this case. But if that gasket is blown out its the fault of the person/shop that changed the filter. I didnt blame the shop when it happened to me, becuase theyre a valuable resource for me with welding and other custom work I often dont feel like doing. But not everyone will be willing to eat a motor swap on behalf of thier favorite muffler shop :) I have made the same mistake myself as well, so it can happen to anyone. Just be aware that it is possible, and somewhat common. Good luck with it, hopefully the kid isnt trying to rip you off for nothing. But being that soon after an oil change (100 miles is less than one days travel for me) chances are there is some correlation. Good luck with it, hopefully the right person wins either way :)

Keep in mind that my point is there will be no leak when the car leaves your shop. But the gasket behind the oil cooler will blow out under pressure and after a little vibration. Then there is a very large leak :) Chances are the owner isnt knowledgable enough to know about this situation, and 995 of the time eats the cost on something that wasnt thier fault. Again, I cant say what exactly happened in this case. But if that gasket is blown out its the fault of the person/shop that changed the filter. I didnt blame the shop when it happened to me, becuase theyre a valuable resource for me with welding and other custom work I often dont feel like doing. But not everyone will be willing to eat a motor swap on behalf of thier favorite muffler shop :) I have made the same mistake myself as well, so it can happen to anyone. Just be aware that it is possible, and somewhat common. Good luck with it, hopefully the kid isnt trying to rip you off for nothing. But being that soon after an oil change (100 miles is less than one days travel for me) chances are there is some correlation. Good luck with it, hopefully the right person wins either way :)


You have a very good point and I dont doubt your knowledge at all. I thank you for telling me all the possibilty and it will give me the heads up in the future should anything else happen. But yes the car ended up at a mitsubishi dealership and there was no sign of any oil leaks. The guy gave me a call about his problem a month later after the oil change. My insurance told me that he didnt mention anything about his turbo being damage either, just his motor. I dont know what is the deal here. But yeah my question is, can 95 Turbo Eclipse be driven over 100 miles with no oil? Anybody has any facts on this?

Problem is, I dont think you'll find anyone that was driving for 100 miles with no oil and actually knew about it. :) I dont know, this is a tough one...

I used to do that for a living,he might have had no leak for a good part of that 100 miles,but with no oil in a car there is no way it would take 100 miles to seize up,more like 20-30 if that ,

I had a nissian sentra (pos):I know it is not the same car but i had my oil changed at a small garage that i have had my car worked many times before. and the guy that changed my oil wasn't paying attention i guess and only put a quart in it and told me it was all done and i drave it about 300 miles before i checked the oil and the only reason i checked it was because i had a lifter was makin a ton of noise but when i called the station they told me to take it in and when i got it there there were no leaks and they actually didn't charge me for that oil change or the next two because of thier mistake. so i know that some cars can go a long distance on little to no oil.

I think you set a world record for the longest run on sentence, but thats intersting. I know how loud my lifters get when I get down to 2-3 quarts. I didnt think one quart would get you very far, but apparently it did. Interesting.

sorry can't type very well failed typing class in school. yea the guys at the shop were really amazed i didn't lock it up

if there is no oil in the engine when it left your shop. it should kick on the oil pressure warning light that on the instrument panel and the oil pressure gauge should have no pressure reading. How can he drove over 100 miles without noticing the oil pressure gauge or the oil pressure warning light?

if there is no oil in the engine when it left your shop. it should kick on the oil pressure warning light that on the instrument panel and the oil pressure gauge should have no pressure reading. How can he drove over 100 miles without noticing the oil pressure gauge or the oil pressure warning light?

good point.;)

On half the cars the sender wires are disconnected or broken ;)

yea the one on my car is a POS, but it still works.

i have noticed that mistubishi dealerships suck when it comes to finding problems....most of them are just other car dealers that pick up mitsu as well and sell them....at both dealers ive found no help and crappy work...i had my car inspected and repaired the probs they told me when i bought it...and literally monthes later all kinds of things started going wrong lol....so screw what dealers say a good mechanic at some local shop is whats needed.